


If You Can't Sleep

by mangoharry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, Server Harry, harry has a cat, harry is a white wine hoe, he loves the cat more than he loves himself, insecure!louis (will be explained later), insomniac harry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-11 04:20:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12927321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mangoharry/pseuds/mangoharry
Summary: Harry sees a pretty boy in a 24 hour gym.





	If You Can't Sleep

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first HL fic and I'm so excited! The idea came to me in my Biology class, and it just wouldn't go away, so I figured I had to write about it. 
> 
> I want to thank my lovely friend [Char](http://archiveofourown.org/users/radiantbeams) for being my beta, and I can't ignore [Kiana](http://archiveofourown.org/users/othersideofdark), who is _so_ encouraging!
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> [Title taken from On the Run by Pink Floyd.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VouHPeO4Gls)

When Harry arrived home from work, he knew he wasn’t going to sleep tonight. Even though he’d worked all day and he was tired, the desire to sleep wasn’t present. He patted his small grey cat on the head and placed his messenger bag on its hook by the door. He followed the small cat into the kitchen and removed a can of her food from the modest pantry, more full of cat food than his own.

He crouched down at the cat’s bowl and opened the can of the foul-smelling substance and slid it into the bowl, and stood up to refill her water. He filled the bowl and placed it in front of the cat and she mewed happily. He patted her head one last time and sat at a barstool in his kitchen.

He sighed to himself and placed his head in his large hands, running his fingers through the silky curls. His hair was longer than it had ever been, which made it easy to tie up and out of his face while he was working, which he was grateful for. He’d had a busy day at the restaurant he was currently employed as a server, but the tiredness he desperately wanted hadn’t made its way into his bones yet. He snapped his head up quickly, knocking himself out of the mental fogginess.

Some wine might make him tired, he thought, as he made his way to the wine rack situated by his coffee machine. He looked over his choices and settled on a bottle of Pinot grigio. He then plucked out his wine key from a nearby drawer, and tore the foil off the bottle with the practiced ease of a server in an upscale restaurant. The cork was removed next, and Harry grabbed a wine glass out of the cabinet in front of him, which housed his modest collection of dishware. He poured himself a rather large glass of the light-colored liquid, and retreated into his living room, carefully placing the glass on a coaster on his side table.

He flicked on the lamp, and the TV shortly after. It was getting to be winter, and the days were shorter so Harry required lights to be on in his small apartment so that he wouldn’t stumble over his own large feet. He heard the quiet footfalls of his small cat running towards him, signifying that she wanted attention now that she was finished eating. He pat the space next to him on the low black loveseat and the cat gracefully jumped up onto the designated space. She quietly meowed and looked up at Harry, nudging her small face against his much larger hand.

“What did you do today, Athena?”

The small cat meowed again, as if she was telling Harry what she’d done. Though, he was sure he had a good idea – the cat slept most of the day after he left, and he was a little jealous that the cat didn’t have trouble sleeping. She climbed onto his lap, tiny claws catching and pricking his skin in a few places. She settles herself against his black pants, and Harry sighed to himself, knowing he’d have to wash the pants before he went back to work. The small cat was purring while Harry was petting her, and he smiled slightly. He’d had the cat just shy of three months and he loved her endlessly. Gemma had dragged him to the pet shelter after the second week of his moping around was coming to a close, on the verge of going into a third week. She was doing the sisterly thing, but Harry wasn’t ready to be out in public for longer than it took to pick up a pizza or get ice cream at the grocery store in his sweatpants. This was the result of a particularly bad breakup, and Harry had been absolutely crushed. Harry was looking to marry the man he was with, and when he confessed it one night during a pillowtalk session, he’d been asked to leave. Harry had left the apartment in tears and completely vulnerable, and ended up soggy on Gemma’s doorstep. She’d rushed him inside and helped him find an apartment on short notice, and retrieved his belongings from his former partner’s home. Harry had played with a few dogs and felt somewhat content, though he knew a dog was too much responsibility and wouldn’t get the freedom it deserved in his small apartment. He knew he needed a pet that could basically take care of itself while he was working at the restaurant, and he’d turned around to find Gemma cradling the small bundle of fur that would come to be known as Athena. She shared the same grey colored coat his favorite goddess’ eyes were claimed to be, and he knew the name was too perfect to pass up.

Unfortunately, Athena wasn’t the only thing he’d gained from the relationship and former partner. He was left with half of the dinnerware he’d once had, and his skin was permanently adorned with a few tattoos that represented the man and the relationship they’d shared. An anchor and a mermaid for his naval past, and birds to represent the two of them etched onto his collarbones.

He was also left with insomnia that was nearly ruining his daily life.

He picked up the remote out of its basket, and turned channels until he settled on an episode of Friends. He pet the cat on his lap, and when he looked down, he noticed she was asleep. Again, he was hit with a pang of jealousy when the felt the small cat breathing deeply in sleep. He scrubbed his hands over his face and turned his attention to the television in front of him, the antics of the six New Yorkers distract him for the time being. He sipped on his wine and relaxes as much as he can with the cat on his lap.

Three episodes later, Athena is practically snoring on his lap. He takes a quick picture on his phone and sends it to Gemma, but the flash was on and the sudden light startles him as well as the cat. She yawns and stretches her paws out in front of her body and blinks up at Harry with her large yellow eyes as if to say “Hey, I’m sleeping here”. Harry shrugs, and turns his attention back to his phone, where his sister had sent a string of emojis in response to the picture. Harry stretches himself, wishing the tiredness would settle into his skin. He glances at the old-fashioned clock above his television and notices that it was getting to be pretty late, luckily. That meant he only had a few more hours to sulk around his apartment until it was time to at least pretend it was time to be asleep. But, when you’re insomniac, it’s a bit difficult to even pretend. The judgmental ball of grey fur that sleeps at the foot of his bed isn’t much help, either.

The cat scampers off, probably to beg Harry for some more food, and he stretched out his limbs on the couch, feet hanging off the end of the loveseat. His forgotten wine was on the floor in front of the couch, and he lets his mind wander about the day he’d had. Customers had been average today, and none had stood out to him. He remembers the great ones, and the ones that are rude to him. Serving wasn’t the best job he could have at twenty-five, but his fine arts degree was barely useful when looking for further employment. He hoped he could work for a magazine someday, writing album reviews or something similar. His sister has relative journalistic success, and he hoped he’d achieve the same someday. He taps away on his phone, scrolling through Twitter briefly, then checking in on the few games he kept up with to collect his daily bonuses. They were mostly for sleepless nights, but he still found them somewhat enjoyable when he wasn’t lying awake.

He sat up slowly, and thought about going to the gym. Some exercise would probably do him good, though he spends all day on his feet, it might make him a little more tired. He stood up from his couch, and made his way to his bedroom, undressing from his work clothes and redressing in a pair of shorts and a plain white shirt. He removed the rings he wore on most days and placed them in the wooden trinket box on his dresser. He laced up his tennis shoes and grabbed his keys and a reusable water bottle and headed for the door, the small cat calling out for him.

He left his apartment and stepped into the brisk late fall air. He plugged in his headphones, the steady music of Pink Floyd flowing through the wires. The walk to his car was short, and the music was automatically picked up by his Bluetooth system as he started the car, rubbing his hands together slightly to heat them up before placing his hands on the cold steering wheel. He reversed out of his parking space, and made his way to the twenty-four hour gym a few miles away. He sang along to his familiar playlist of classic rock, Mick Jagger’s edgy voice flowing through the speakers of his small car. He signaled to turn into the gym and found a parking space near the middle of the lot.

He made his way into the gym, using the key fob they’d given him with his membership. The desk worker greeted him pleasantly and Harry waved, heading straight to the treadmills, his machine of choice for exercising. He stretched his legs out carefully, not wanting to cramp up while on the machine. He finds an open one across from a shorter man with hair held back by a headband and tattoos adorning his arms. The gym was surprisingly a little crowded for around midnight, and Harry quickly tied up his hair and got onto the machine, starting at a relatively slow pace, warming his body up. He turns his music up louder and increases the speed on the machine.

A few minutes later, Harry is jogging on the treadmill when he looks up and notices the man across from him is as well. He is quickly taken aback by his beauty, and Harry doesn’t think he’s ever seen a more beautiful man with his own eyes. He was jogging slowly when Harry first started on his treadmill, and Harry quickly thought it might’ve been because of him. He looks up into the man’s eyes, and he is already watching Harry. He raises an eyebrow and turns up his treadmill a few notches, and the man in front of him does the same thing. Harry is breathing heavily and the man in front of him is shaking with his deep inhales. He notices how slight the man is, especially when compared to his own size. He glances down at his shoes quickly and decides to test the man again, turning his speed up once more. Sure enough, the brunet in front of him is speeding up as well. Harry giggles slightly and shakes his head, turning his treadmill down as the pace was a bit too fast for him. The man in front of him was still going, and he makes eye contact with him and the man smirks, fucking _smirks_ at Harry.

Harry doesn’t think he’s ever seen a more beautiful man with his own eyes. 

Harry ran until his playlist was finished – about 45 minutes in total. He climbs off the treadmill and relished in the feeling of being on solid ground. He goes to the showers in the gym and washes the sweat off his skin quickly, and secretly hopes he’ll see the man on the treadmill in front of him again before he leaves. He has to pass by the rows of treadmills again, and the man is still there, jogging the early morning hours away, like the Energizer Bunny. Harry laughs slightly at his own joke and walks directly in front of the man’s treadmill, where he had been just minutes before. He drops his left eye into a wink and doesn’t miss the way the man stumbles slightly on the treadmill before regaining his balance. 

Harry leaves the gym with a smile on his face, and while he is walking to his car, it dawns on him that he is tired. He’s actually fucking tired! He would jump and high five himself if he could. He drives the familiar streets back to his apartment and climbs two flights of stairs to his second floor apartment, where he is met with a meowing Athena. He picks up the small cat, yawns, and goes into his bedroom, where he falls asleep thinking of the short man he encountered at the gym, hoping to run into him again, but he knows the odds aren’t in his favor in a city as big as London. 

Harry wakes up in the morning with Athena curled on the pillow by his head, feeling well-rested for the first time in months.

**Author's Note:**

> Reblog the post on tumblr [here](https://mangoeharry.tumblr.com/post/168237474768/if-you-cant-sleep-by-mangoharry-on-ao3-2k-harry)!
> 
> Come visit me [here](http://mangoeharry.tumblr.com/) !
> 
> Comments, kudos, and reblogs are all appreciated!


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